The past is a foreign country: 80s toys & technology

So far in my blog series on the early 80s,
I've written a post introducing the period and covered my favourite movies
and television
shows. But the 80s wouldn't have been without the 80s
without the popular technology and toys of the time. With
that in my mind here's a list of my favourite tech and
toys from 1980-1985:

VCRs.

Before there was Netflix, before DVDs and even before
Blockbuster Video was born (the first store opened in
Dallax, Texas in late 1985) VCRs were making their
way
into homes and changing the way people watched movies
and television. The two big formats at the time were Betamax
(considered the superior technology) and VHS (the format
that won the war despite Betamax's better quality). My
family were late-ish in acquiring our first VCR in 1986,
but even beforehand we rented machines or occasionally
borrowed them from my dad's school over the weekends.
The summer I was fourteen we rented a top loading VHS
VCR along with the Duran Duran video album and a couple
of movies while away at the cottage for a couple of weeks.
I was so excited at the thrill of being able to repeatedly
watch even the most obscure Duran Duran videos, that it's
a wonder my head didn't explode and burn down the cottage.
Watching what you wanted exactly when you wanted to watch
it was revolutionary and when our own VCR arrived a couple
of years later it was pretty awesome to be able to tape
General Hospital, Late Night with David Letterman

Merlin

In 1980 and 81 (possibly even 1982!) I was pretty much
inseparable from my Merlin, a handheld device the size
of a mutant phone that contained 6 different games. I
can't imagine how many batteries I must've gone through
or remember whatever happened to my Merlin, but I'd love
to stumble across one of these again and see if I still
remember how to play the tune Molly Malone on it
in electronic chirps.

Rubik's Cube

You
knew that was coming, right? I think everyone who lived
through this period probably had a Rubik's cube in their
hands at some time during the early 80s. Its runaway popularity
led to a sort of 3D handheld puzzle fad and I probably
had ten different games inspired by the Rubik's Cube at
one point. But the Rubik's Cube was my first and favourite.
I became sort of obsessed by it and worked on it for hours
at a time, until I finally figured out how to solve it.
I still can't explain the process in words and don't know
exactly how I can do it but a part of my brain
recognizes the patterns that come up while you're shifting
the cube and also knows how to turn the various sides
accordingly until the six sides each show a solid colour.
There was a time during the early 80s when I could do
the cube in 2 minutes but when I tried about five years
ago it took much longer.

Pac-Man (arcade game)

The 80s was a hot time for arcades and before Atari really
took off the best way to get your Pacman fix was to throw
a quarter in the machine. This and Burgertime were my
favourite arcade games of the time.

Burgertime (arcade game)

You can check out what Burgertime was like
at Shockingly
Fun! Games. And if you ask me what I found so compelling
about a game centering on a tiny chef who must assemble
burgers by walking the length of buns, meat patties, tomatoes,
etc.), while being hunted by an egg, hot dog and pickle,
I confess that I have no idea, but then, most arcade games
didn't make much sense! Better not to apply logic to them.

MTV

You may wonder if I should've stuck this
under TV shows but the idea of a channel dedicated solely
to pop music felt like a technological breakthrough too.
As did the newly popular artistic medium of music videos
and their role in selling music.

MuchMusic (1984 and onwards)

Canada's very own version of MuchMusic hit
airwaves in the summer of 1984. After the free trial of
the channel was over my main birthday gift the following
December was a subscription to MuchMusic.

Atari

The first mainstream videogame console!
Obviously the thrill wasn't dependent on cool graphics.
Those didn't exist yet. So the sense of fun in Atari games
like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Pitfall! and Missile Command
was more along the lines of what you'd experience playing
something like pinball. You can see a list of top-selling
Atari Games here.
I never played RiverRaid or Atlantis but most of the other
titles are familiar and I can't tell you exactly how many
times I saved E.T. by sending him home during the early
80s but for awhile saving E.T. was kinda one of my hobbies.

Smurfs

The Smurf craze was at its height when I
was in seventh grade.All us Smurf fans taking
part would bring our Smurf collections ins and sit them
on our desks and, no, the teachers didn't tell us to put
them away. I was much less a fan of the show than I was
of collecting the toy smurfs but I watched them on TV
too and although there was seemingly only one female SmurfSmurfetteI
actually had several female smurfs. I believe my Smurf
collection still exists, intact but well-worn, in a box
somewhere in my storage locker.

Sony
Walkman

As a music format, tapes sucked they'd
get tangled up and warped if you listened to them too
many times (as a result I had to throw out most of the
favourite albums that I'd purchase on tape from this time).
But the coolest thing about tapes was that they allowed
you to carry your music with you. Portability! From the
moment I got a Walkman my favourite music went everywhere
with me (Goodbye, Merlin). Bliss!

Just one more eighties post left. Drop back
in next week and read my fav music from 1980-85 entry.

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likes to write things down and is a firm believer in the John Lennon quote, "If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." Her ninth young adult book, JUST LIKE YOU SAID IT WOULD BE, is packed with movie references and giddy love for Dublin, Ireland and her middle grade debut STRICKEN is a sci-fi adventure that happens to be set in Dublin too.

Canadian & Irish novelist of character-driven fiction from horror to sci-fi to slice-of-life. Also writes under the name Cara Martin. Film school grad. Time traveller. Billy Bragg fan. Living with chronic illness. True believer in the John Lennon quote, “If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal.”